Altering the earth : the origins of monuments in Britain and continental Europe : the Rhind lectures 1991-92

In the 1992 Rhind Lectures to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Richard Bradley presented his ideas on the origins of of monuments, the development and use of monument sites and, above all, on the perception of those who built and used them. `Individual experience', he writes, `is at the heart of how monuments are used'. Offered here in the lively style in which they were delivered, the lectures examine monuments both as places, and as ideas in relation to the natural world and to human culture; they discuss the logic and sequence of monument building; and their afterlife - after their creators and users have departed. Richard Bradley writes, `Monuments feed off associations, not only of places, but also of other monuments. Monuments are enhanced and rebuilt; they are reinterpreted and changed, and new constructions are created around old ones'. Concerned primarily with the monuments - henges, barrows, cursuses - of Neolithic abd Bronze Age landscapes throughout Britain and in Europe, but including also reaction to them in post-Roman times, this brilliant series of essays presents a view that will influence our interpretation of prehistoric man as well as our views on our own heritage.